Earlier this week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson provided more ammunition to critics who have accused him of promoting white nationalism when he warned his viewers that the left was advocating for white genocide, the conspiracy theory that racists and white supremacists have been touting for years now. That came on the heels of Carlson pushing the issue of South African land seizures, a policy that the far-right has embraced as proof of white genocide. (One Tucker segment resulted in a President Trump tweet in which the president said he would have his State Department look into the matter.)

Anyway, while Carlson and his publicists have insisted over and over that he is not racist, his program remains a favorite of white nationalists. Just ask notorious white supremacist and alt-right founding father Richard Spencer.

In a series of tweets sent out on Tuesday, Spencer wrote that Carlson was “the most based, interesting, and impactful mainstream conservative commentator” because he’s willing to go “places the others aren’t.”

If someone were to ask me who’s the most based, interesting, and impactful mainstream conservative commentator, the answer is easy: Tucker. He’s willing go places the others aren’t, and he can be sharp and witty. A definite improvement over people like Bill O’Reilly!

Spencer did offer up some criticism of Tucker for developing a “shtick” and that it’s become “tiresome,” further noting that Carlson tries to couch his commentary of the left’s purported obsession with race with his supposed belief in “color blindness.”

That said, Tucker has developed a routine over the past year (a “shtick”), which reveals his deeper principles and perspective. I must admit, Tucker’s script is starting to become tiresome—and it has always been insufficient.

Tucker presents the Left as “obsessed with race”—which is, of course, not wrong. But Tucker does this in the sense of holding up “color blindness” and the absence of racial solidarity as a norm or even as a “conservative value.” To be racially conscious is to be wicked.

Tucker attacks liberals for not upholding the values of Classical Liberalism, allowing his conservative audience to pat themselves on the back for being good individualists. I find myself ironically agreeing with his detractors: “Yes, Tucker, race is real, and it matters.”

Tucker scolds liberals for “obsessing about race” as if this race talk is what causes division, unrest, and violence—as if we’d all be hunky-dory, multi-racial patriotic Americans if it weren’t for those darn leftists professors who talk about race all the time.

The proud white supremacist went on to say that Carlson had “become a major public figure, not simply for his talents and good humor, but because he has raised the specter of nationalism, national disintegration, and anti-white hatred.”

Tucker has become a major public figure, not simply for his talents and good humor, but because he has raised the specter of nationalism, national disintegration, and anti-white hatred—often implicitly and increasingly explicitly.

A few years ago, one could plausibly (though not convincingly) say that conservatives just hadn’t heard of things like race realism, White identity politics, or identitarianism. After the rise of the Alt-Right, you simply can’t argue this. Tucker knows.

He concluded his thread by wondering if Tucker was “holding back” in order to keep his highly-rated Fox News show and if he was attempting to gradually “red pill” his viewership.

The most charitable interpretation is that Tucker is holding back to hold onto his show and seeks to gently red-pill his Fox audience. The more critical perspective is that he is stuck in the “no-man’s land” that all conservatives have been stuck in for that last 50 years.

The “red pill” is not just a gradual thing, it involves a fundamental change of perspective and basic principles. Whether Tucker will ever undergo this change—or remain a transitional figure—is all up to him.

Last month, The Daily Caller — the site Carlson founded and served as its top editor until November 2016 — distanced itself from former editor Scott Greer after it was found that he wrote for the Radix Journal, a publication founded by Spencer. Asked by the Washington Postif he knew Greer — who had been with the Caller since 2014 — had contributed to Radix or harbored racist views when the Caller hired him, Carlson personally insulted the Post writer while saying he had “never heard of any of this” until The Atlantic reported on it.

Justin Baragona is the founder and publisher of Contemptor. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.